


Iceplay

by MsBrightsideSH



Series: Inception Bingo 2016 [6]
Category: Inception (2010)
Genre: Fluff and Crack, I have No Excuse, Inception kink bingo, M/M, Zoo, even when Arthur's a penguin he's cold, except not really, iceplay, kinpenguin!arthur, omfg, polarbear!eames
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-23
Updated: 2016-07-23
Packaged: 2018-07-26 06:48:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,553
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7564312
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MsBrightsideSH/pseuds/MsBrightsideSH
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Arthur’s life used to be peaceful, nice.</p><p>In which Arthur is a king penguin at a shit zoo, and Eames is the polar bear who moves in next to him</p>
            </blockquote>





	Iceplay

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, so. This is my fill for the iceplay square on my bingo card. I tried to make it sexy, I swear. I started three different versions of ice play sexy times. Instead, this happened. Blame the people in the WIP chat. Also blame kate_the_reader, mycitruspocket and hooptedoodle for always being so encouraging.  
> Enjoy and...BINGO

Arthur’s life used to be peaceful, nice. Yes, maybe it wasn’t perfect to live in a zoo that put an  _ Aptenodytes Patagonicus _ into an Antarctic exhibit instead of reading up on the species they had bought and putting him into a subantarctic one, but Arthur has heard of king penguins getting lost and washing up on Antarctic grounds from more educated visitors, so he figures he was doing alright.

Sometimes, he got cold, sure, but in retrospect, that was a small price to pay for the solitude he’d enjoyed. Now, things are different.

“Hello, darling!”

Now, things are infinitely worse. Arthur isn’t sure who had the genius idea of putting a polar bear exhibit right next to the Antarctica one.

 

***

 

When Arthur first arrived at the zoo a few years back, he was too young to remember much about his previous life. When he closes his eyes, sometimes he can still feel flat stones underneath his feet and see bristly green, but that’s all.

The emperor penguins that he first shared a living space with were stuck up and snooty and Arthur quickly learned to keep to himself, to hold his beak high and bury his feelings underneath a layer of perfect feathers and indifference.

Still, it was a relief when they were transferred and he didn’t have to listen to their inane chatter anymore. The area of his exhibit was reduced, but of course that made perfect sense since Arthur didn’t need much space. He had his pond to swim in, with glass windows for the visitors to watch him dive. He knew he was a crowd magnet, showing off his technique he had perfected over time, his body tensed and lithe. Arthur liked his life.

Then, one morning, the exhibit that had been put into the space left by the emperor penguins, wasn’t empty any longer.

Arthur stared as the gigantic mountain of fur was lifted onto the artificially cooled stones. The workers disconnected the thick cables, then quickly left the area again. Arthur couldn’t stop staring. “Oh, look at that!” one of the workers exclaimed. She had long brown hair and was wearing a scarf printed with the zoo logo. “Arthur is getting curious!” 

“Arthur?” another worker asked blandly. She rolled her eyes, as if everyone should know who Arthur was. Arthur decided that she was great. “Arthur, our  _ Aptenodytes Patagonicus _ . King penguin,” she added when it became clear that the guy had no idea what she was talking about. She rolled her eyes again, then winked at Arthur. “He’s one of our main attractions here, you know. Very important for business.”

Arthur felt his chest swell with pride. Then, before he could get any more praise, the heap of fur stirred. Immediately, all the attention was on it. Arthur should have known it would become a pattern.

 

“Hi, I’m Eames. I’m a polar bear!” the heap of fur introduced itself the next morning.

“I’m Arthur,” Arthur replied stiffly. “I’m an  _ Aptenodytes Patagonicus _ .” Eames blinked.

“A king penguin,” Arthur said, mimicking the exasperated tone of voice the girl had adopted the day before.

“Why didn’t you just say that?” Eames asked, smiling.

“I prefer to be specific,” Arthur bit out. Eames held up his paws.

“No need to bite my head off, is there?” Arthur looked at Eames’ smile. All he could see now was a rather impressive set of teeth. Clearly, he was either being threatened, or, worse, made fun of. Before he could reply, however, a high-pitched voice called, “Look, Mommy, they’ve opened the polar bear exhibit, look, look!” The first visitors of the day had arrived.

Immediately, the people went over to look at Eames, ignoring Arthur completely. Arthur huffed and started his daily routine, stretching and then doing an elegant head dive. When he passed the windows, however, he couldn’t see a single eager face pressed to the glass and when he surfaced, there were no cheers. Everyone was crowded around Eames. Arthur looked over jealously, only to discover that Eames wasn’t even  _ doing  _ anything, just rolling around on his back lazily. Arthur sighed.

 

The worst part was that Arthur understood the people, after a while. He, too, found himself gazing at Eames’ fur glittering with droplets of water in the sunlight. Eames’ toothy smile was remarkable, it seemed easy, perhaps even friendly, but the hint of teeth never let you forget that Eames’ species was, in fact, among the most dangerous in the world.

When Arthur wasn’t swimming, he felt inelegant, certainly not like something to look at. Eames, on the other hand, always managed to look charming, even if he just lounged around in the sun. His paws looked gigantic, and had there been any fairness in the universe, they would have been clumsy. Of course, they weren’t. Eames could slice open a fish with a precision that even Arthur with his long, slim beak envied.

 

***

 

“Darling? Are you dreaming?” 

“Shut up, Eames,” Arthur says automatically, surfacing from the memories without missing a beat. They’ve lived next to each other for the past couple of months now, but Eames still hasn’t stopped trying to be Arthur’s friend. Well, pretend to try, because Arthur has thought about this, and he can’t come up with a single reason why Eames would actually  _ want _ to be his friend. Arthur is a logical creature, so he doesn’t trust Eames.

“What’s crawled up your arse today, love, hmm?”

“I have no idea what you mean,” Arthur responds blandly. A group of schoolgirls approaches them. Arthur is glad. “Excuse me, I have work to do.”

 

***

 

Arthur can’t sleep. During summer, it’s usually ok, because even if his rock is frozen solid, the air is warm enough. In winter, however, he’s often cold and tonight is particularly bad. His beak is chattering, no matter how hard he clenches his jaw.

“Arthur?” a voice from his left asks. If Arthur wasn’t so cold, he’d groan, but now he just clenches his eyes shut to stay calm and asks, “What?” hoping that his tone of voice will make clear that he can’t deal with Eames right now.

“Are you ok?” Eames’ voice asks and he sounds different than usual, uncertain.

“I’m wonderful,” Arthur forces out.

“No, you’re not,” Eames says, and before Arthur can protest, tell Eames it’s none of his business, do anything at all, really, he hears the splash that means Eames has jumped into the water. All Arthur has time for is a confused little shiver, then he suddenly sees Eames’ head, bobbing out of the water a few feet from Arthur’s rock.

“Eames, what the fuck, how did you get in here?” Arthur splutters, while Eames swims towards him and and climbs onto his rock, making sure to shake out his fur away from Arthur.

“When they built the new exhibit, they were sloppy,” Eames explains with a shrug of his massive shoulders. Arthur shivers again, maybe not  _ just  _ from the cold this time.

“They left a little crack between the boulders. When I’m bored, I dig around there a little, see how long I can stay under, move some rocks, you know?”

“What? You dug yourself a way into my home? I’m pretty sure that’s illegal,” Arthur bites out, which isn’t very polite, but still a lot better than  _ You look very fluffy and I’d like to bury my wings in your fur.” _

“Arthur,” Eames sighs, “You’re a penguin. You shouldn’t even  _ know  _ words like ‘illegal’, you little stick in the mud.”

Arthur scowls angrily, but his beak starts chattering again before he can say anything, and Eames looks concerned. “Darling, are you ill?” 

“No,” Arthur says, wishing he could pout just a little. The beak makes it hard. “Just cold,” he admits after a beat of silence. Eames looks at him in surprise. “Yes, a penguin who’s cold, hilarious,” Arthur says. He’s tired, he’s cold and he wishes Eames would just go away and let him be miserable in peace.

“They always cool the exhibit down even more in winter, to make up for summer,” he explains bitterly when Eames still won’t move. He waits for Eames to finally laugh at him, get the mocking over with and leave, but Eames just steps closer slowly. “I’m always warm,” he states.

“Good for you,” Arthur says, closing his eyes and hoping that will make Eames go away.

Instead, he feels warm, strong paws touch his face.

“I’ll keep you warm,” Eames says, and Arthur is much, much too tired to argue. 

Eames carefully lies down around Arthur and after one last moment of hesitation, Arthur lies down as well, close against Eames’ belly, completely surrounded by warm, soft fur.

They lie in silence for a bit while Arthur’s body gradually relaxes, then Eames says, “Want to see my tattoos?” Arthur doesn’t want to be a dick, not when he’s warmer than he’s been in weeks, and more comfortable than he’s been in his life.

“Sure,” he says, even though he can barely keep his eyes open.

“Oh,” Eames says, like he didn’t expect Arthur to actually agree. “Well, you know, a polar bear’s skin is the colour of tar, so technically, you can’t really  _ see  _ them -” 

“It’s ok,” Arthur interrupts, snuggling harder. “You can tell me all about them in the morning.”

 

 

  
  


King penguin Arthur:  


Polar bear Eames:  


**Author's Note:**

> Yes, I am aware that it is very unlikely that a king penguin would be cold in some American zoo.  
> Yes, I did most of my research on Wikipedia. Not sorry though because if you ever have a bad day, please please google Sir Nils Olav. He's a king penguin currently colonel-in-chief of the Royal Norwegian Guard. That's right.


End file.
